More Minnesotans are seeking help from food shelves this summer as the high cost of everything from gas to groceries forces more people to rely on food assistance — some of them for the first time.
Nonprofits across the state are experiencing an influx of demand amid high inflation, with some organizations serving more people now than in the summers of 2020 or 2021, when the need for food assistance increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
From December to June, food shelf visits in Minnesota increased 57%, according to preliminary data from Hunger Solutions Minnesota, an advocacy group. And visitation numbers aren’t likely to drop back to 2019 levels anytime soon, said Colleen Moriarty, executive director of Hunger Solutions.
More Minnesotans visited food shelves in 2020 than in any previous year on record as the pandemic led to furloughs and layoffs. Visits to the food shelves fell slightly in 2021, but the number was still higher than in 2019.
“It could take years for us to recover,” Moriarty said. “I don’t see it going down until food prices come down.”
While COVID concerns are easing and the state has low unemployment, rents are rising and wages are not keeping pace with inflation. The Consumer Price Index rose 8.7% in the Twin Cities in May compared to a year ago, reflecting high consumer prices across the country and the globe.
“People who are disabled and poor and unable to make ends meet will continue to be affected by this economy,” said Matthew Ayres, director of the Joyce Uptown Foodshelf in Minneapolis, which is seeing a record number of people in need. “That’s the danger of getting ‘back to normal’ – assuming everyone is well.”
In June, about 436,000 Minnesota residents signed up for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps. Fewer residents use food stamps than in 2021, but the number of recipients is still above the 2020 and 2019 levels, according to state data.
High inflation also hampers the budgets of food shelves, which use purchases from food banks and other providers to supplement food donations. Ayres said his food shelf will be over budget this year by more than 20% due to the increase in customers and food costs.
Joyce Uptown spends about $ 15,000 more than expected on eggs alone due to price increases, and Ayers started a fundraiser asking donors to “sponsor an egg.” He rejects new customers due to a three-week waiting list.
“We’re suffering from this double commotion right now … both in distress and in prices,” said Ayres, one of three employees in the small nonprofit organization that occupies a cramped Victorian house in Uptown.
In June, Joyce Uptown distributed 55,000 pounds of food to 2,800 people. One of them was Nancy Layeux, 79. She used to volunteer on the food shelf, but now even goes there once a month to buy groceries to supplement what she can buy on her fixed income.
Social security “does not last that long,” she said. “The check did not go up, but the food did.”
The Minneapolis-based nonprofit Loaves & amp; Fishes is in the process of handing out 4 million free meals this year, which is a tripling of the number of meals it provided in 2019. More rural residents are driving to the metro area to receive meals, so the organization is expanding to St. Cloud and want to add more foreign sites.
“We see new people every single day,” said Cathy Maes, CEO of Loaves & amp; Fish.
In St. Paul delivered food to more than 3,000 people at Neighborhood House’s markets in June, more customers than in each of the previous two Junes. Many of them were seeking help for the first time, said Nancy Brady, who runs the nonprofit. Since meat and other items cost more, they provide more dried beans and canned chicken.
“We’re trying to stretch our dollars so people can eat,” she said.
At the beginning of the pandemic, food shelves received an infusion of federal and state aid and an increase in donations. But the additional state support and community support has since decreased.
Hunger Solutions lobbied for $8 million from the Legislature for food shelves, food banks and meal programs and sought $15 million for capital investments such as expanded food shelves. Neither proposal passed in the last session, although the state Department of Human Services recently awarded $5 million in federal COVID relief funds to food banks and tribes, giving the state’s food supply a temporary boost.
A reduction in free food from the government and retailers means the Community Emergency Assistance Programs (CEAP) food shelf in Brooklyn Center is spending more than double what it did last year on food. The number of new families visiting the food shelf has also doubled.
“It’s extremely telling,” said Clare Brumback, president of CEAP. “People who were getting by then are in an emergency with rising costs.”
In Bloomington, Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People (VEAP) has trimmed the amount of food they buy to adjust for higher costs, resulting in shelves that are becoming increasingly sparse. The nonprofit has just launched an emergency fundraiser and has reduced the amount of food it gives to each person.
“We feel it’s urgent right now,” said Caley Long of VEAP. “It’s not just the normal pressure. With inflation … it keeps screwing up for people.”
